Update: I was unfortunately not aware of Shamus Young's severe criticism of Fallout 3 available here to link in the original piece and I regret that. It dovetails rather nicely with what I've written and it's much better executed than my piece. I strongly recommend anyone...

Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 4: Double Visions Review

McFly's Theorem: Time travelling and love do not mix!

Double Visions has yet another crazy setup for our friend Marty. After turning the maniacal Citizen Brown somewhat back to his old Doc days, he now has to figure out how to turn 1986 back to normal.

Yet again, you'll directly control McFly while having the limited ability of interacting with items and your inventory. The Back to the Future games are even more streamlined than the usual Telltale series and there's hardly a way to stray off the scripted path due to how closed off and limited your choices are in any particular situation. Even so, it's been an incredible ride ever since It's About Time, the first episode in the season.

In terms of gameplay, it's safe to say this episode is the busiest one so far. The puzzles are a little more in-depth and require a few more steps in figuring them out. There's nothing that will make you get stuck, perhaps just a few head-scratching moments. If you do get stuck, the hint system points you in the right direction... most of the time. There were a few instances where its clues just made me run around in circles.

The story and characters are still the highlight of Back to the Future. It's fun to see characters from different times and realities interact with each other and with Marty. There's also a ton of little references to past installments in the franchise and truth be told, the writing takes advantage of the entire Back to the Future canon. It even works with what was already established in the movies, like Clayton Ravine getting its name back, a result of Doc and Marty not being in the 1800s and influencing the events of Back to the Future.

You won't spend a particularly long time playing Double Visions and it's probably for the best. The pacing feels just right and makes the story unfold itself well enough. This season has been keeping up the quality throughout its episodes, which only begs the question of how crazy will the final episode be. This is one of the best Telltale episodes yet. For Back to the Future fans or just adventure game aficionados, Episode Four is amazing. And from the looks of the teaser at the end of this chapter, the next one might just surpass it.